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Dead on the pavement with your PUMA

ob-dl221_segway_d_20090407005950Well would you look at the Piece of Crap GM hopes to put on the road? A death trap named PUMA, of all things.

How come Ralph Nader doesn’t spend more time doing what he was actually good at instead of running for President? There was a time when Ole Ralph would have had a stroke if he saw something like this rolling off an assembly line. This baby makes the Pinto look like an armoured tank and the Corvair look front-heavy.

One would almost have to put a call in to the Scooter Store 800 number to match this. Actually, the Scooter Store is a better deal because they have figured out a way to bilk Medicare for their wheels. “It didn’t cost me a thing!”.

Looks for sure like something Congressional Motors would design.

I envision the guy in this photo murmuring, “Dear Jesus. Please don’t let anyone back up.”.

Now I ask you, why bother paying for a “vehicle” such as this when you can just lie in the middle of the street during rush hour and become road pizza for free? Then they could just roll you up and cart you off, and your carbon footprint would be really small, let me tell you.

Who in his right mind without a Death Wish would expose himself to traffic while moving at 35MPH in this thing? My dog is bigger than this “vehicle”. This would also go over really well in a North East winter, don’t you think? I bet they come out with a little plow attachment (optional).

No wonder GM is circling the drain.

General Motors Corp. is teaming with Segway Inc., maker of the upright, self-balancing scooters, to build a new type of two-wheeled vehicle designed to move easily through congested urban streets.

Yes, I would say one could move very easily in this thing. Stuck to the grill of an SUV.

According to GM, though, this thing will be smart enough to move out of the way of 4×4’s. Of course, we won’t know whether or not that idea is defective until the April Consumer Reports Auto Issue comes out in the following year. As I fondly remember my last GM car, the one whose heated windshield shattered like a spider’s web on the first day of winter, the one whose electronic suspension sunk to the ground, and the one whose heated seats began to smoke, it’s pretty safe to say that there will be plenty of road kill before that ’smart feature’ is debugged in the field.

The Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) prototype is shown in Brooklyn April 4. GM and Segway say the vehicle could allow people to travel around cities more quickly, safely, quietly and cleanly, and at a lower total cost.

God. They named this POS after PUMAs.

The Segway Personal Transporter was launched with considerable hype eight years ago but practical issues prevented the scooter from becoming a mass-market product, including its relatively high cost and restrictions on its use in many jurisdictions.

I don’t suppose the thought that nobody in his or her right mind would allow a loved one to enter traffic in that thing had anything to do with it, did it?

The struggling auto maker, surviving on a government lifeline, is looking to generate enthusiasm for its increasingly uncertain future ahead of the New York auto show this week.

Generate enthusiasm. Oh yeah. This will do it. I’m rolling my eyes here.

Produce this vehicle, GM, and your future will definitely be certain. Your future non-existence, that is.

GM didn’t say how much the machines would cost,

Whatever the price is, it’s too much.

“Dem newfangled environmentally friendly GM machines must be biodegradable, Claude. I hear they never found his.”
roadkill

**Thanks for the link, DE. I think.

  • Portia Elizabeth

    Uppity– you are one witty person! I really did laugh out loud.
    Yep, I’ll buy one of those Pumas right after I get my bailout check and a serious head injury.

    • Ani

      Uppity,

      The tears were streaming down my face reading this, I was laughing so hard. You rock! We certainly miss your regular posts around here.

      Truly, who would allow their loved one to enter traffic is this deathtrap? The only way a vehicle like this would work is if everyone else on the road was driving one as well — no exceptions. And that ain’t gonna happen.

    • 2cents

      another one that laughed out loud ….very witty and scarcastic. Needed that laugh – thanks much

  • Seattle Moss

    The only way this type of transportation will work is if you ban all regular vehicles from the inter city. Then you can have certain lanes of the road for Segways and bikes and then other parts for trucks and buses.
    Folks would have to leave their cars at certain drop off points outside the city and then rent out a segway to take them the rest of the way.
    Pretty much a pain in the ass!!

    • oowawa

      Good ideas Seattle! We’ll clear out the obnoxious gas-eating noisy polluting traffic, and fast! Has anyone noticed how this new vehicle is half-way to an ancient lower-tech vehicle–the rickshaw. If we brought back the rickshaw, we could eliminate the petrofuel problem and the unemployment problem at the same time!

      • Seattle Moss

        We might as well get used to eating rice and getting around by rickshaw
        I think we should hire low information bottom feeders like obots as the clean energy to operate these rickshaws. Give them a Chinese hat and have them grow a Fu Manchu Gottee for full affect.
        In order to keep bots moving me quickly around town I recommend us being able to use whips.
        it’s only fair!!

        Here is the song I will be singing in this new hopey change world.

        I’m turning Chinese
        I think I’m turning Chinese
        I really think so
        Turning Chinese
        I think I’m turning Chinese
        I really think so
        I’m turning Chinese
        I think I’m turning Chinese
        I really think so
        Turning Chinese
        I think I’m turning Chinese
        I really think so

      • FLDemFem

        Asia is full of motorized rickshaws. They are pulled by a bicycle with a small motor on it. Works a treat. They also have them without motors. When we lived in Asia, my parents had a rule, if it was a motorized rickshaw we could stay in on hills, if it wasn’t, we had to get out and walk up the hill. They didn’t think it was right for a smaller Asian person to pull our fat American asses up a hill. We made a game of it, we would hop out and challenge the rickshaw driver to a race up the hill. If he won, he got a huge tip, if we won, we giggled and tipped a regular tip at the end of the ride. We rarely won.

      • FLDemFem

        This car would be better. It can run on a mix of gas and vegetable oil. It looka like a car, a real car. It also costs a lot less than anything Detroit will come up with. Start at 3500 Euros.

        http://www.mdi.lu/english/oneflowair.php

      • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

        Has anyone noticed how this new vehicle is half-way to an ancient lower-tech vehicle–the rickshaw

        ROFL!!!

  • FLDemFem

    Well, GE and Segway, what do you expect? It’s a scooter with roll-bars. Get a Vespa, it would be safer and cheaper, IMO.

    GM and Ford have done something for the American car owners. Remember that ad by Hyundai that said they would take back their cars if the buyer lost his job? I wrote a diary on it and Ford and GM’s response to the problem.
    http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=2667
    Ford is willing to pay the payments of a buyer who loses their income for 12 months up to $700. GM will pay for 9 months up to $500 a month. As I said in my diary, that does help the current situation. Having a car to look for a job helps a lot, even more than having the payment removed from the budget. To have both is wonderful. Kudos to Ford and GM for stepping up and helping the people who really need it. Oh, Hyundai now will pay for three months. Nice of them. Heh.

  • pm317

    Haha.. here I was thinking Tata Nano was too fragile for these roads.

  • georgiapeach

    Well, this will be a dead giveaway. I can’t see anybody but an Obot being stupid enough to drive this. It makes a Geo Prism look like a Sherman tank.

  • Peggy Sue

    Uppity, this was entertaining the first time I read it and it’s just as funny now.

    My dogs and I will stick with our odious SUV. Let someone else be the “road pizza” like that yellow-striped possum [what a picture!].

  • beachnan

    LOL Uppity, that was brilliant! What the hell were they thinking. I’m already disgusted with the motorcyclists, and bicyclists zipping in and around traffic, without adding this PUMA vehicle to the mix.

  • cynic

    Hey! It’s a Super-Rascal Mobility Scooter! They’re obviously targeting the leading edge of the aging Baby Boomer market!

    Actually, these things might really sell in China.

    • Ashy1

      I don’t know about that cynic, I heard the Chinese want real cars now that they’ve got the money.

      • http://noquarter foxyladi14

        oh.yes they have got the money..our money..

  • Troy

    When DC orders their new “green” fleet of autos, I demand that they all be issued one of these little gems….It would make ridding ourselves of the corrupt DC scum much easier…This “Puma” (piled up mangled ass) is a perfect example of the diseased liberal mind at work.

  • wodiej

    LMAO….great post UW…geez, this is so ridiculous I have to laugh. It’s bad enough having the little mopeds holding up traffic and being a hazard to everyone including themselves but these??

    • HARP

      Whoa there~~ It must be safe…..it has reflective tape on the side.

      • wodiej

        wonder if they have to have insurance and a deduction will be given for the reflective tape? Can you imagine someone using these at night??
        OMG….

  • tminu

    Wow I always need a good chuckle in the midst of Obama-nutter-land, this was indeed funny! I’m forwarding it around…

  • Ken in IL

    Agree with cynic above about alternative markets.

    This vehicle is not any different than the small Vespa motor scooters. They would be okay if a separate lane system was set up (bike lanes?). I think most commuters use some sort of highway during their commute and this would be suicidal on any highway, boulevard or in traffic.

    Would people park them in their office? They don’t look much bigger than a wheel chair.

  • AX10

    Ford is going to be the one US car manufacturer to survive. They have some products coming that are attractive including a Ford Fusion Hybrid that gets 45 miles per gallon. A Fusion is a midsize car.
    I know the Prius Creative Class will never go for it.
    Most likely because they do have a contempt for the working American.

  • HARP

    I`ll be Damned if I will drive something that needs to pick up speed just to negotiate a speed bump.

  • http://soldierforhillary.com soldier4hillary

    Ugh. I could see teh liberals attempting to give us something like this to deploy with as a means of saving money for Iraq & Afghanistan to replace the armored vehicles that are soooo expensive and costly and un needed. I mean all the armor does is like, you know save our life against IED’s and Mortars.

    But then again the open sides on the PUMA would make it easier to throw the rocks, dirt and other useless entities at our enemy because it’s cheaper than bullets. Plus I am sure this goes faster, 35mph you say? than the average terrorist running so we should be able to out distance them once we get finished using our rocks and stones as weapons.

  • http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

    I kinda like the Rickshaw, but I had a better name for it. F.A.R.T. Ferries Aristocrats ’round Town

    http://partizane.com/node/989

    Love the line work

  • HARP

    Where will the police put their flashing lights?

  • alibe

    Quit it!! Just quit it! I am still trying to catch my breath after laughing so hard to read much of this article out loud to my partner. I couldn’t get much of it out because I was laughing so hard. That Ralph Nader paragraph…OMG..
    And stuck to the grill of an SUV! Just quit it now!

    • Ani

      Agreed! :)

  • http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

    My dear departed Mother-in-law told only one joke and well…

    Why did the opossum cross the road? …To show the squirrel that it could be done.

  • oowawa

    Ah, imagine the glorious future of these things. For example, imagine the first outlaw motorcycle club to use souped-up versions of these vehicles exclusively. Not Hells Angels, but maybe “Satan’s Segways,” or the “PUMA Demons.” Imagine the terror of a whole gang of these scary misfits roaring into town . . .

    • HARP

      Ha Ha…..They might come in handy. If I get stuck, my dogs can get out and push.

  • CMartin

    This is for high density urban areas where people don’t want a “real car” (even if it is a 50 mpg car) and parking is a pain. Automakers have been trying to appeal to that demographic for a long time (look at the mini and Fortwo).

    If I lived in NYC or Chicago or SF I wouldn’t mind having one of these–public transportation there is reasonable enough to make owning a car a waste of money (registration, insurance, maintenance, etc). If I had to drive on the interstate every day, this would be absurd, but that’s not the demographic this is aimed for.

    • Ani

      I lived in NYC for 30 years and if you are brave enough to enter traffic driving one of these things, more power to you. I am sure we all agree with you on the desired demographic for this vehicle. That stated, this contraption is not “seaworthy.” The way cab drivers and other loonies zig zag in and out of traffic in the city — one wrong move and you’re dead. Period.

  • The Real HC

    I cannot wait until these are zipping around a sidewalk near me.

  • http://www.dwarfhamster.com dst

    Maybe the sight of this Corvair might bring Mr. Nader back in overdrive!

    http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2095069670034166813JIjnJq

  • http://www.dwarfhamster.com dst

    Maybe the sight of this Corvair might bring Mr. Nader in overdrive!

    http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2095069670034166813JIjnJq

  • Tricia Spiegel

    Uppity–you are just too funny for words! LMAO. (But your points were all well taken!)

  • PO’dVet

    Actually I think there is a specific market they could effectively target with these. I’m sure we have all seen the scooter patrolmen on traffic duty. These would not be a bad replacement for them. More Eco friendly, roughly the same speed…So instead of Puma’s, I think they should rename it the Meter Maid.

  • I’m a Linda too

    GM thinks this is their answre to cure Americans from wanting small cars.

    How does this meat safety standards for motorized car?

    Things that make you go “hmmm”, then “AAAAAHHHHHH”, then [SPLAT]

    And with this type of idea, probably the one given by this administation (along with their other guidelines and “recommendations”), you see why we are in the trouble we are.

  • wodiej

    where in the world are people going too drive them?? They’ll no doubt market them before any special lanes are made for them. People who use small vehicles like this and mopeds should have to carry insurance. Very dangerous. They should also have to pay road tax like the rest of us.

  • http://noquarter foxyladi14

    still laughing,,,thanks U.W.

  • tek

    Wow! GEM has a better electronic vehicle than this one. It’s only allowed on roads where the speed limit is 35 or under.

  • http://noquarter foxyladi14

    a day without Uppitys wit.is a day without sunshine….

  • alphaBeach

    I bike alot in city traffic (portland oregon). Have to say, I often feel safer on my bike because I’m on alert, can see and hear more, react quickly, etc.

    This however, does really look unsafe. How on earth would you see, much less react to, the 4×4 who could never see you?

    we need more bike-scooter-etc-only roads. Major urban redesign.

    bummer about the name.

  • Newly Independent

    ROTFLMAO @ you Uppity!! Thanks for this article.

    And to think – years ago GM killed their FAR superior electric car for this absolutely inferior garbage…

    GM deserves to die several deaths.

  • jwrjr

    No way this thing can be modified to meet the crash test requirements.

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

      Anybody would would use one of those things IS a crash test dummy!

      Thank you everybody. Glad you liked the piece.

  • Diana

    I think if I get anything it will be the air car coming out of France or Australia. This reminds me of the Yugo. When you crashed in it, yugo here, yugo there. Yugo, yugo everywhere…and so the search was on to find your body parts.